What's this AI everyone is talking about related to fair housing? Now you can see for yourself.
Copies of the Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing, City of Valdosta, are now available for 2006 and December 2011 on the LAKE website. I retrieved both of them today from Document Central on the the City of Valdosta's Document Central. It is my understanding that the 2006 version has been there for some time, and the 2011 version was put there today. The 2011 version is a draft that has not yet been approved by HUD.
I have not read either version of the document yet, so I don't have much to say about it yet. The point is that you can read it yourself. I've also pulled all the 2011 maps into separate web pages to make them easier to work with. No doubt the Valdosta City Council and staff, as well as the community steering committee formed by Council James Wright would be interested in feedback. Or you can comment on this post.
Oddly, the City of Valdosta doesn't seem to have such a map anywhere on its web pages, nor does the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority (VLPRA).
On Saturday, May 12, 2012 the Valdosta Bike Co-op will host its first community ride on the Azalea City Trail. The ride will begin at the start of the trail near Vallotton Park and will finish at the end of the trail near the Craig Center. This will be a family-friendly ride and will keep a reasonable pace. The ride will begin at 1 PM following a brief bike safety lesson.
The ride will begin with a proclamation by a local leader of the City of Valdosta appointed by Mayor John Gayle. The proclamation will officially declare May as National Bike Month in the City of Valdosta. Riders will then follow the nearly 3 mile trail through beautiful Central Valdosta.
The goal of this ride is to promote the use of the bike and pedestrian trail as well as to promote National Bike Month. The members of the Valdosta Bike Co-op would like to invite the entire community to join us in the fun, healthy, and safe community ride.
The five local cities (Valdosta, Hahira, Remerton, Dasher, and Lake Park) presented their case in terms of changed demographics from the 2000 to the 2010 census. Much of the presentation was explained by Hahira City Manager Jonathan Sumner.
Lowndes County wasn't interested in discussing, and is waiting for arbitration, which will happen in 60 days (presumably from when they started negotiating). The VDT writeup protrays that as a surprise, but it's what County Chairman Ashley Paulk has been saying since before these negotiations began.
I would have preferred to hear what services the cities do now or could with more tax revenue provide that would benefit the entire county.
Even more, I think the local governments could spend their time together better talking about how to increase the pie, for example through solar energy for municipal revenue
or through county-wide fast Internet broadband access, either of which would help attract knowledge-based jobs, which would provide employment and increased tax revenue.
However, I salute the cities and the county for being transparent about their positions, as you can see in these videos.
Videos of Mayors and County in Hahira LOST Negotiation, Mayors and County in Hahira, Lowndes County Commission (LOST), Hahira, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 May 2012. Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
In early April, Valdosta City Council members voted almost unanimously to approve the submission of a plan to HUD that would address socio-economic problems for citizens — except for District 1 council member James Wright.
“I felt as if we didn't have enough time to review the document,” said Wright, as the 100 page document was not provided until the day before the vote.
The document in question is the “Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing” and was prepared by a Texas firm, J-QUAD Planning Group. The study is required of any city that receives funds directly under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program though the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which Valdosta became eligible for in 2004.
According to the minutes of the 5 April 2012 Valdosta City Council meeting, Council Wright wanted to delay voting on the document because there was a lot of public interest in it. Mayor Gayle pointed out it was simply a pro-forma analysis required by HUD, and not a plan. Council Vickers said they could form a committee to make a plan. But the council didn't seem to include formation of such a committee in the motion to accept the analysis that finally passed.
Videos, Regular Session, Valdosta City Council (VCC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 5 January 2012. Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).
Is there an outdoor water restriction in Valdosta, or isn't there? The city and the newspaper seem confused about that. Also remember much of Lowndes County gets its water indirectly from Valdosta through the county's utility system.
And that with groundwater levels at all-time lows, we need to be conserving
all the time anyway, and thinking about how much and what kind of growth
we want.
The City of Valdosta has issued an outdoor water restriction suspending all outdoor water uses for 72-hours, or until further notice. Click here for more.
Folks in Valdosta need to think twice about washing their cars, or doing anything else that uses much water, this weekend.
"The city of Valdosta is urging all citizens to immediately cease outdoor irrigation use and all other nonessential uses of water. Now and throughout the weekend," said Public Information Officer Sementha Mathews.
Severe vibrations in the water pumps is what put them out of commission. "The city's water treatment plant experienced some mechanical issues this week with two of its raw water well pumps which caused the low levels in water," said Mathews.
So, did the city fix its pumps? Or is it just confused about what to do?
WCTV posted
this update, and seemed to indicate the water restrictions were still in place:
The City of Valdosta sincerely thanks the citizens who responded quickly to its request today to cease all outdoor irrigation and non-essential use of water. Currently, there are no water quality issues in the system, and the water provided by the city is safe for all purposes.
People should be conserving all the time anyway. These suggestions from the city are pretty good for a start:
There appear to be four cases for final action by Valdosta Mayor and Council on 10 May 2012, and three cases for final action by the Lowndes County Commission on 8 May 2012. GLPC itself is advisory:
it votes on recommendations, but it does not decide.
You may wonder why we don't just point to the official copy of the agenda on the GLPC website. That's because that website no longer exists (try the above link; you'll see). It's still linked to from the City of Valdosta web page for GLPC. More on all that later.
The local cities want more LOST money from the county.
Imagine if they and the county spent this much effort
bringing in new industry such as solar to increase the pie!
the blog of LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange
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